asylum
/əˈsaɪləm/
"asylum" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“asylum” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,197 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,197
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A place of safety or refuge.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | asylum |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈsaɪləm/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #7,197 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “asylum” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for asylum is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈsaɪləm/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,197 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for asylum, with forms such as "aslyum", "assylum", and "asyllum". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "alum", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin asylum, from Ancient Greek ἄσυλον (ásulon). The correct English form is asylum, spelled A-S-Y-L-U-M.
Definition
- 1A place of safety or refuge.
- 2The protection, physical and legal, afforded by such a place (as, for example, for political refugees).
- 3A place of protection or restraint for one or more classes of the disadvantaged, especially the mentally ill.
Etymology
From Latin asylum, from Ancient Greek ἄσυλον (ásulon).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aslyum,assylum,asyllum,asylmu,asylumm,asyulm,asyylum,ayslum,saylum
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of asylum - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “asylum”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-S-Y-L-U-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈsaɪləm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “alum” - see the side-by-side comparison. asylum vs alum
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.